In this lesson, we will cover the basic Avid approach to trimming and show how to perform those same functions in Final Cut
Pro. In general, FCP is far less modal than Avid. You can perform trims in FCP just as you can with Avid’s Smart Tool without
entering a “trim mode,” whereas with previous Avid versions, you always enter Trim mode to trim. Both, however, have similar
trim windows that behave in similar ways. Like Avid, FCP lets you trim clips by dragging an edit point in the Timeline or
entering a trim duration. In addition, FCP also has dedicated trim tools in the Tool palette. You have numerous ways to trim
clips in FCP. The trick is to find your comfort zone of what’s familiar and then to explore the new alternatives.

Also in Avid, unless you lock tracks (or turn off Link Selection in Avid 5), you are free to adjust individual tracks separately.
In FCP, the default is to bind or “link” the video and audio portions of a clip so that when you select one track, all tracks
are selected. However, FCP also has a linked selection feature. This feature is covered in depth in Lesson 8, but this lesson
includes steps to select just the audio or video portion of a clip so that you may trim one track at a time to create a split
edit or L-cut.

Although most trim functions are covered in this lesson, a few additional techniques for changing the length of a clip in
the Timeline are covered in Lesson 6—such as trimming an edit using the Extend function, or dividing a clip by using Add Edit.

Working with the Trim Edit Window

While Avid 5 has adopted many of the direct trimming features available in Final Cut Pro, there are many versions of Avid
Media Composer in which you have to select a separate mode to trim. In Final Cut Pro, you never change modes per se, but one
way to trim is to access a Trim Edit window, which is much like Avid’s big trim window. Inside the Trim Edit window, FCP handles
trimming virtually the same way Avid does. To open the FCP Trim Edit window, you can lasso an edit point with a special tool,
or simply double-click the edit point. If you want to map a Trim Edit button to simulate clicking Avid’s Trim Mode button,
you can map it to one of the button bars. You can also use keyboard shortcuts.